Hull Geological Society
Conservation Fund
The Hull Geological Society has a conservation fund, the rules of which are:
1. The Fund
shall be called the Hull Geological Society Conservation Fund.
2. The Fund shall be administered by the Officers and Committee of the Hull
Geological Society.
Withdrawals from the fund will require two signatures.
3. The Fund shall only be used for conservation work or projects in Eastern
Yorkshire (including the upkeep of the Rifle Butts Quarry Shelter). Such conservation
should have educational benefits in terms of extending knowledge and promoting
research into Geology and allied science, in line with the educational aims
of the Hull Geological Society's Rules and charitable status.
4. The accounts shall be shown as a separate fund in the Society's Treasurer's
report annually and be audited in the same way as the Society's general funds.
5. The Committee shall invest the Fund as they consider appropriate and consider
applications for conservation grants.
The Fund has been an unexpected result of our work at Rifle Butts SSSI. In 1993 we received a Grant from the Curry Fund of the Geologists' Association, as half of the cost of erecting a shelter to protect the exposure at Rifle Butts SSSI near Market Weighton. The Society invested the money until the work had been complete and received some interest on the account. We offered to donate that back to the Curry Fund but were told that we could keep it and use it for the upkeep of the shelter (to pay for some paint for example). In 1997 the Alliance and Leicester Building Society converted into a bank. The conversion meant that the account-holder was entitled to free shares. We offered these to the Curry Fund, who eventually replied that they were happy for the Society to keep them for conservation work only. But the problem was that the shares are the Secretary's name because they could not be in the name of the Society. Following the advice of the Society's Auditor, the 1998 AGM agreed that the shares should be sold and the money re-invested by a group of trustees. Following that the Charity Commission pointed out that the Fund should not have separate 'Trustees', which effectively created a separate organisation and would have to apply for separate charitable status. This was corrected at the 1999 AGM when the above constitution was adopted. We would like to thank Michael McKillop of the Charity Commission for his help in the wording of the Fund rules.
Copyright - Hull Geological Society 2014
Registered Educational Charity No. 229147